Oregon Terrorism Reflects Vanishing American Culture

December 6, 2010

On Thanksgiving weekend, a horrific “near miss” occurred in Oregon, as Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a Somali immigrant and aspiring Islamic terrorist attempted to explode a truck bomb in the middle of a crowd that had gathered in Portland for the Christmas tree lighting ceremony. We can all rest easy however, knowing that the Department of Homeland Security is already on the case. No doubt they will soon announce plans for the installation of nude body scanners at all Christmas tree lots, along with a federal mandate that every blonde-haired, blue eyed six year old or octogenarian who discusses plans to attend tree-lightings, Christmas parades, or any other holiday festivity will henceforth be subjected to TSA style grope-searches.

This alarming event comes barely a year after Nidal Hasan, a Muslim Army Major, opened fire at Fort Hood Texas, killing thirteen and wounding dozens more as he yelled “Allahu Akbar” (Allah is great). In the intervening months, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria, the so-called “underwear bomber,” attempted to kill the passengers and crew of Northwest Airlines flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, followed a few months later by Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani who tried to detonate a truck bomb in Times Square on May 1, 2010. That neither Abdulmutallab nor Shahzad were able to properly ignite their bombs must be attributed to “luck” or Providence, since both clearly intended mass murder and were within a hair’s breadth of succeeding. Does anyone see a pattern here?

Fortunately, the FBI had been on this particular Mohamud’s trail in Portland for months, and apprehended him before he could cause harm to anyone. Furthermore, the covert operation thoroughly neutralized any danger he might have posed. But had his effort been successful, the loss of life could have been horrendous. Let the FBI publicly pretend that its heroic agents did not engage in any manner of “profiling” while identifying and pursuing Mohamud. To the vast majority of Americans, such an answer is perfectly acceptable, though everyone knows better and most are thankful for it.

Despite the scope of the potential disaster in Oregon, media interest has evaporated faster than if the episode had revolved around a Chinese ICBM. That yet another Muslim immigrant wanted nothing more than to slaughter hundreds, perhaps thousands of innocent Americans is apparently no big deal. And amazingly, accusations of FBI “entrapment” of Mohamud are quickly supplanting the real news story and taking center stage.

In any case, the raw perversity of this situation bears greater examination. How is it that a transplant from Somalia, which is an absolute hellhole of poverty and human misery on the southeastern coast of Africa, could end up in the veritable paradise of Corvallis, Oregon, and only be consumed with hatred and murder?

The answer lies, to some degree, in the sort of people who are permitted to immigrate to America, but also in how America is presented to those entering the country.

Throughout most of its existence, America represented a doorway to opportunity and freedom through which the entire world longed to pass. Having once been appreciative of their great homeland and all that it offers, Americans were not willing to let just anyone enter their nation and partake of its blessings.

Formerly an inspiring “melting pot,” the efforts of the counterculture and specifically those on the political left have mutated things to the point that prominent and influential institutions such as the nightly news and the schools have become cauldrons where anti-western fanaticism incubates. This modern social climate evokes nothing but self-loathing on the part of the “enlightened” class. Thus, America’s many great deeds and accomplishments are subordinated to a twisted “politically correct” orthodoxy that only emphasizes the flaws. Newcomers are especially susceptible to this propaganda onslaught, and rapidly absorb it.

Mohamud fit comfortably among these. From the moment of his arrival in the United States, he should have been presented with the highest virtues of its rich history and culture. And while, slavery was indeed once part of that history (Back on Mohamud’s home continent, it is still rampant and accepted), the spiritual and moral underpinnings of the nation that ultimately rendered slavery incompatible with its concept of virtue and decency, are far more enduring and significant.

Instead of being able to objectively contrast the squalor and brutality of Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda against the peace and prosperity of the United States, Mohamud and his kind are marinated in the constant leftist drumbeat of America’s faults, echoed and magnified by such notables as “Reverend” Jeremiah Wright and his very loyal twenty-two year parishioner Barack Obama.

Rather than seeing his new home as a blessing and a chance to make a better life for himself and the family he might one day have, Mohamud could only fester in his hatred for those around him. But should he be expected to do otherwise, when the occupant of the highest office in the land offers profuse apologies for the supposed wrongs committed throughout history by the American people, making a case that it requires “audacity” to hope for anything other than discrimination and injustice from this nation. Thus Mohamud and others who are similarly twisted can maintain the blinders of their religious background while resentment seethes and festers within them.

As the Portland situation moves into the realm of the criminal justice system, the emergence of Mohamud’s many supporters and defenders bears grim witness to the fact that he is not alone. Belief in the inherent evil of America is widespread among middle-eastern immigrants who cling to the ways of the oppressive nations from which they departed. Far worse is that among this nation’s secondary schools and universities, and even from the Oval Office, they have little chance of receiving anything but concurring poison.

If Americans ever intend for the huddled masses crossing our borders to reacquire the reverence for this nation that was held by former generations who did meld into its societal fabric and build its culture, they must begin by confronting the enemies of such things who already reside within its shores. Flag-waving Americanism needs to be loudly and unabashedly trumpeted as it once was. And any prospective immigrants who resent such a concept prove themselves wholly unfit to be here.

Christopher G. Adamo is a resident of southeastern Wyoming and has been involved in state and local politics for many years. He writes for several prominent conservative websites, and has written for regional and national magazines. He is currently the Chief Editorial Writer for The Proud Americans, an advocacy group for America’s seniors, and for all Americans. His contact information and article archives can be found at www.chrisadamo.com, and he can be followed on Twitter @CGAdamo.